Senua’s Scholarship will help students reach their full potential.By Adam Bankhurst

Ninja Theory, the developer of such titles as Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, has teamed up with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and its charity Head to Toe to launch Senua’s Scholarship to help students improve their mental health and lead successful lives. Ninja Theory, who was recently purchased by Microsoft, spent three years working with “staff and students from CPFT’s Recovery College East to gain an understanding of mental health as the lead character Senua has experiences of psychosis.” Announced on NHS and CPFT’s website, the students awarded Senua’s Scholarship will “be supported by the college team to develop their training skills and work towards training qualification.”

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The goal is to support these students and allow them to develop their skills and mental health and give them an opportunity, if they desire, to pursue a career in adult education.

“CPFT’s Recovery College East does incredible work in the mental health community and through our collaboration on Hellblade we had the privilege of learning what it can be like to live with psychosis,” Ninja Theory commercial director, Dominic Matthews said. “We’re very happy to be supporting the college in this way and look forward to meeting the very first recipient of the scholarship later this year.” Professor Paul Fletcher, CPFT honorary consultant psychiatrist and clinical lead in the game’s development team stated “Senua as a hero in the video game embodies much of what the Recovery College is about so it is especially fitting that this scholarship will provide a real person with the opportunities and support to face their own challenges.”

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Recovery College East, which has locations in Cambridge and Peterborough, provides “a collaborative, educational learning environment and aims to convey messages of hope, empowerment and opportunity to all. It celebrates strengths and successes rather than highlighting deficits or problems.”

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was released in 2017 and in our review we praised the braveness of the title and said, “This is a game everyone should play, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to have lived inside the mind of Senua, however briefly.”

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer who loved Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and applauds Ninja Theory for their courage in not backing down and telling a truly important story.